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Idaho to NY trip in RV-7

Taltruda

Well Known Member
Friend
I had the pleasure of delivering this RV-7 from the builder to the new owner. A few circles over Yellowstone, and a few over Mt Rushmore. Longest leg was 3:46, landed with 15 gallons reserve. A delight to fly. .
 

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Pics

Me and the wife at 11,500, also the builder and his wife.
 

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RV-7

IOX-360 A1B6 engine, Composite MT (Constant Speed) Propeller, Dual Garmin G3X, Garmin 650, Garmin Autopilot.
 

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Navy vs Air Force

Which is better, Navy or Air Force? Too bad I didn’t get to park next to it for a better pic.. Saw this sweet “AarrrV-6” on the ramp at Cody Wyoming. Was hoping they were around to dogfight..
 

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fuel capacity

Curious how you flew 3:46 and had 15 gallons remaining? Roughly 4 hrs at 8 gallons an hour is 32 gallons, that leaves 10 remaining.... extra tank or do you have a secret to economy cruise..... ?
 
Curious how you flew 3:46 and had 15 gallons remaining? Roughly 4 hrs at 8 gallons an hour is 32 gallons, that leaves 10 remaining.... extra tank or do you have a secret to economy cruise..... ?

Full throttle to altitude, (11,500, 13,500, or 15,500 depending on winds aloft) took roughly 20 minutes and perhaps 4 gallons, (full throttle and 2,500 rpm) then in cruise I found pulling the prop back to 2200 rpm and leaning to 75-80 ROP gave 7.3 7.0 or 6.3 respectively at 11.5, 13.5 or 15.5K feet. Manifold pressure was between 19.7 to maybe 16 inches this high, I don’t remember. No extra tank, just going high altitude and low rpm/leaning. I found that at 2300rpm I could only lean to 8.3 gph or so, but the previous owner gave me the recommended rpm to set (2200) and the engine seemed to like it.

Edit: Looking back at my screenshots, that last leg showed 15.7 gallons remaining, however on previous legs, this number was off about 2 gallons. So perhaps there was really only 13.7 remaining. I didn’t top the tanks after that last landing, so I’m going to say I probably used 28.3 gallons on that flight. 4 gallons to altitude, 6.3 x 3 =18.9 in cruise.. then in the descent I had set up the Vnav for 750 to 1000 fpm and throttled back to keep the TAS under 195 knots, so Manifold stayed about 20 inches into the pattern. Guessing that I used 4 gallons in the descent.. that 4 hour leg (ASW to ISP) was really 3:46 of flight time. The G3X counted from the moment you flip the master switch on, not takeoff to touchdown.
 

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Last edited:
Curious how you flew 3:46 and had 15 gallons remaining? Roughly 4 hrs at 8 gallons an hour is 32 gallons, that leaves 10 remaining.... extra tank or do you have a secret to economy cruise..... ?
He said 3:46 was the longest leg, not the last leg.
 
Curious how you flew 3:46 and had 15 gallons remaining? Roughly 4 hrs at 8 gallons an hour is 32 gallons, that leaves 10 remaining.... extra tank or do you have a secret to economy cruise..... ?

So far my best economy flight (rv-7) has been from Twisp WA (2S0) to Eureka CA (EKA) and back. 1128 ish miles (includes pattern distance) a little over 7 hours of flying and no fuel stop.... was watching fuel flow like a hawk and landed with just over 5.5 gallons left in the standard vans tanks. Flying above 14000’- and below 16000’ most the time.
 
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